It would seem that if we want to be healthy, we should abandon our soft lives and go rough it in the wild. There, we would eat natural food and get plenty of exercise just trying to get it.
 
In principle, that's correct. In practice, it's not as idyllic or achievable as we imagine.

Survival TV series, such as Naked and Afraid, illustrate the harsh reality. But even those participants are given starter tools and other materials. Our ancient ancestors would have had no such luxuries or even known how to build a fire.
 
The primitive foraging tribe, usually limited to about forty people by the carrying capacity of the land, had an average lifespan of around 22 years. That's because finding food and protection from the elements was difficult and often not achieved.
 
Humans were also prime prey. Not having the strength, size, or speed to match the great predators, just trying to stay out of the jaws of the food chain would have been a full-time preoccupation.
 
One reason early humans were slow to populate North America was likely the presence of great carnivores. One was a huge monster bear that had the speed of a horse.

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​Want a visceral reminder of what it meant to be prey?
 
The sound will likely send chills through your body—just as it did for our ancestors who lived with such threats every day.
 
Other threats may have even been dinosaurs, as evidenced in these ancient pictographs.

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​If you weren't being dined on, even a minor injury like stubbing a toe, embedding a thorn, or getting cut on a rock could be the beginning of the end. No Emergency Room, no disinfectant, not even a Band-Aid. There would be no time to lie around recuperating with someone else feeding you. No entitlement programs, no panhandling. You had to keep going. If death didn't come from the injury, it might from starvation or exposure to the elements. Before that welcome end, you would be in the most dreaded category that predators just love--the weak and disabled.
 
There was every manner of infectious and parasitic disease. To this day, in our North American woods, there is giardiasis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, a cadre of parasitic worms, mycotic and bacterial skin infections, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, brucellosis, shigellosis, schistosomiasis, Eastern equine encephalomyelitis, and more.
 
Our only protection would have been a robust immune system. But that's only possible with adequate nutrition.
 
In the wild, there would be venomous creatures under our bare feet. Hordes of mosquitoes, black flies, deer flies, spiders, and ticks could drive a person to madness. The only relief would be to spend nights plunged neck-deep into leech-infested waters or slathered with mud.

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​Yes, primitive life aligned with nature had health potential and did less harm to the environment. But it was also brutal and short. Romanticizing that world ignores its cruelty. Besides, with today’s global population, everyone can’t walk out their door and live off the land.
 
We’re stuck in a modern dilemma. But we’re not powerless. We can have the best of both worlds—if we think.
 
Technology can offer safety, security, abundance, and health. Or, it can destroy ecosystems, flood us with addictive, life-sapping conveniences, and reduce us to sedentary, chronically ill husks.

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Our greatest challenge today is choosing wisely among the endless options before us. Because now, the real predators are processed foods, passive lifestyles, unjustified beliefs, and engineered addictions.
 
Still, there’s hope. We’re natural beings. If we use that truth as our guiding principle—living in line with our design to the best of our ability—we give ourselves the best chance to be truly healthy.